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Austria, Vienna
1 Level
742 Review
32 Karma

Review on πŸ…ΏοΈ GoodChief Universal Garage Laser Line Parking Assist: Effortlessly Park and Guide with Dual Laser Lines - Witness the Difference on Our Video! by Mike Roberts

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Best Park Assist Design

I usually don't like the products I buy from Revain. It's usually just a commercial product that fills a need and either does what it's supposed to do or it doesn't. This product is different. I initially looked at these hanging tennis ball park rails because I didn't have any tennis balls and didn't feel like going to the store to buy them (they come in 3-packs). My search turned up a couple of wall sconces that change color from green to yellow to red based on ultrasonic detectors. It seemed like an improvement over tennis balls because it was progressive and didn't have something like a tennis ball hanging in the way when the car wasn't in the garage. But reviews have been mixed, including many complaints about the annoying beep/buzzer, the constant on time, and eating batteries. Then I found some laser pointers that put a red dot on the dashboard to help you determine your position. It seemed even better, except that the Dot was hard to see in bright light and they used somewhat unreliable motion detection to toggle it on and off. Then I came across this Laser Line parking assistance system. It seemed to have all the advantages without the disadvantages of other devices, so I decided to give it a try for less than $30. I installed it this weekend and am really amazed at the ingenuity and functionality of this little device. It creates a pair of lines that you can align along the two axes of your parking space, so one line provides left/right guidance and the other provides forward/backward guidance. The lines are bright enough to be clearly visible in the garage, even with overhead lights on and sunlight streaming in through the open rear door. They turn on and off with the garage door opener, so they're available when you need to drive in, and turn off automatically a few minutes after you get out of your car. As you drag, you can align with the left/right line while it's still on your hood, and then stop when the front/back line reaches a predetermined point on the dashboard through the windshield. It really is one of those "why didn't I think of that?" product that just makes sense. Nothing is perfect. It is really designed for double light garage door opener. I only have one and using an extension cord with sockets on the side (to keep the light on and still be able to connect the laser power supply) would make it impossible to close the flashlight cover. So I went to my local hardware store and bought one of those Y-shaped sockets that you can use to put two lightbulbs in one socket. The Y angle allowed me to keep the original bulb without getting in the way of the cap and then plug the 2 pin female connector that came with the unit into the other bulb socket. If you have a garage door opener with a single bulb, you may need to experiment a little to get the device plugged in and still have light. A last resort would be to run a short extension cord from the garage door opener to an outside dome light. A simple lightbulb socket with a side laser module socket is only $7 here at Revain. Another thing I didn't like was using wire nuts to connect a pair of wires from the laser module to a pair from a 5 volt wall stud that you connect to a garage door opener lamp. I understand this is an easy fix for buyers who aren't electrically savvy, but this isn't my choice for a secure connection. You can solder and heat shrink like someone suggested or in my case I had a lot of car wiring connectors so I just added a two pin connector between the two wires. It was suggested that you could use this for two cars by aiming each of the lasers at different parking spaces. That's true, but the power plug and the laser module do not match because you can connect additional laser modules to the same power plug. Having two perpendicular lines of light for each machine is such an advantage that I would definitely buy two modules, plug them into the same power plug and set them up to provide a "crosshair" for each machine.

Pros
  • Perfect for outdoor activities
Cons
  • Not sure